from China: A Teaching Workbook,
Asia for Educators, Columbia University

Dates in the "China" column indicate an approximate date of origin
for the item or invention; dates in "The West" column indicate the approximate
time when the item or invention was received in the West.

silk, ca. 1300 BCE

 1300 BCE


[received in the West, 552-54 CE]

folding umbrella (?)

 300 BCE 

[received in the West, 1600s]

lodestone, 240 BCE

 200 BCE 

shadow figures (?)

 100 BCE 

[received in the West, after 1700]

BE/BCE

lacquer

 100 CE 

[received in the West, 1730]

peach and apricot [earlier origins in
China, but cannot be accurately dated]

paper, 105 CE

[received in the West, 1150]

tea, 264-273 CE

 200 CE 

[received in the West, 1600s]

Word for porcelain first used

 300 CE 

[produced in the West, 1709]

sedanchair

 400 CE 

[received in the West, 1600s]

kite, 549

 500 CE 

[received in the West, 1589]

silk, 552-554 [in China, ca. 1300 BCE]

 600 CE 

playing cards

 700 CE 

[received in the West, 1377]

dominoes

gunpowder (?)

[received in the West, 1330]

porcelain described, 851

 800 CE 

[produced in the West, 1709]

oldest printed book, 868

[Bible printed in the West, 1456]

The Song Dynasty, 960-1279

 900 

movable type, 1041-1049

 1000 

[block printing in the West, 1423]

compass

[received in the West, 1190]

zinc used in coins, 1094-1098

[described in the West, 1500s; industrially produced, 1740]

orange [earlier origins in China,
but cannot be accurately dated]

 1100 

paper, 1150 [in China, 105 CE]

explosives, 1161

[gunpowder and cannon in the West, 1330]

compass, 1190 [in China, 1000s]

 1200 

 1300 

gunpowder and cannon, 1330 [in China,
700s]

playing cards, 1377 [in China, 700s]

lemon [earlier origins in China, but cannot be
accurately dated]

 1400 

block printing, 1423 [movable type in China,
1041-1049]

Gutenberg's Bible, 1456 [China's first printed
book, 868]

chaulmoogra oil andephedrine described, 1552-1578

 1500 

[received in the West, after 1700s]

zinc described [used in coins in China, 1094-1098]

kite, 1589 [in China, 549 CE]

The use of the following also originated in China in early
times, but cannot be accurately dated: peach, apricot, orange,
lemon, pomelo, chrysanthemum, tea rose, camellia, azalea, China
aster, gingko, "German silver," wallpaper, goldfish.